“Them Dawgs” review

When the documentary was announced I thought it was going to be about Kirby Smart’s entire tenure at Georgia. That is what it seemed like the Georgia Football Twitter account was saying.

However, the documentary was about the 2022 season and the behind-the-scenes look at the Back-to-Back champs. To me, the doc left there a lot more to be desired. However the doc was great to relive some of the great moments during that 2022 run.

I completely forgot that Georgia started the year ranked number 3. That definitely will not be the case this year. One thing you could tell by watching the documentary is that the Georgia players felt disrespected by that ranking and wanted to prove that they were the best team in the country that year.

The start of the doc showed Georgia early in the summer camp practicing and Kirby just grilling everybody. There were several times on the mic where Coach Smart was questioning how the team is going to respond to adversity. But at the end of the practice, Smart told the team they have the chance to be special. This would end up being to case and on the adversity note, We saw Georgia get everybody’s best shot and Georgia responded every time.

Speaking of getting everybody’s best shot, Watching the Tenneesse game highlight package was great. That day was an accumulation of how far Kirby Smart has taken thisGeorgia program. This was also when the public learned about a new Kirby-ism “Nowhere to run, Nowhere to hide.” More on that in a minute. But watching how the team conducted itself before the game got me fired up, especially Kirby’s speech.

Hendon Hooker, the now former QB of the Vols, probably wishes that his pregame speech on the field was not recorded. In his speech, he said Georgia’s time is up. YIKES. That did not go to plan, did it?

Also funny to watch the Tennessee fans who showed up thinking that this was going to be their coronation as the best team in the country that year. All facets of that game are great to revisit.

I will say the documentary did a good job showing how Kirby works in the locker room during the games. He and his staff are all connected in saying the same mantras over and over again. Smart uses that mantra when giving his fiery pregame speeches. My heart rate was going up every time they showed one of the pregame speeches. How could you not want to run through a brick wall after hearing that?

Lastly, the ending of the documentary was fantastic. I won’t spoil the whole thing if you have not seen it yet. But Kirby making the entire Locker room listen to a Motown song to hammer his mantra “nowhere to run, nowhere to hide” was fantastic. The fact Kirby is playing a song for guys that was released in 1965, when most of the players’ grandparents were young kids is hilarious. Furthermore, he makes the entire team in the locker sing the song multiple times. Pure Gold.

The last image was awesome to see. Kirby alluded to his son, Andrew, crying after the national championship in the post-game presser. Andrew was crying because Steson Bennett was leaving and would be heading to the NFL. The documentary captured a little piece where Stetson and Andrew were talking to one another. The kid is visibly upset and you see Stetson consoling him and saying “We’re champs, baby!” Then Stetson hugs him. That last piece of the doc was pretty cool to see. When Smart talks about being connected, he truly does mean it and that 15-second clip spoke volumes.

Overall “Them Dawgs” was a good documentary. One day when this run is all over, this will age like fine wine. Whatever the equivalent of YouTube will be in the future it will be nice to rewatch this and relive some of the best days of Georgia football. Probably for those younger generations that come along it will be like me watching Larry Munson’s Greatest Calls on VHS tapes in about 20-ish years. Hopefully, my kids won’t have to deal with the dry years, like I had to.